Aether
by Elles Green
Summary: The life and loves of the Roman Empire.
1. Chapter 1

_Today, March 2__nd__, is my birthday! I'm now 17! And because of that, I'm giving a present to all of you, this fanfic! YAY! But in all seriousness, there aren't that many Hetalia stories about the Antiqua characters. Maybe there's too much pressure to be historically accurate (mess one thing up and it snowballs). But I'm going to give it a shot and hopefully it works out…  
~Elles Green_

[See my page for the BIG LEGAL DISCLAIMER]

(WARNING: Heavy Dialogue)

* * *

Rome and Byzantine where good enough friends. At one point, Rome's empire was getting too big to watch over by himself. Byzantine didn't mind, and before anyone knew it, he was looking after the East while Rome managed the West. They were close enough to trust each other and far away enough to not get sick of each other. But sometimes they were a bit too far away, so every now and then, they would meet up somewhere to catch up.

This time, it was Byzantine's turn to visit. They started off the usual way, updating themselves on what the other was doing while walking through the many gardens and streets of Rome. It would start out official, but then it would get more and more casual.

Sure enough, their conversation took the usual turn.

"Well" Byzantine said incredulously "do you honestly think you have a chance with her?"

"With who?"

"Don't play dumb, I think you know who..."

He thought a moment; there was only one girl Byzantine ever talked about.

"Wh-what, Greece? Wait, wait, you think I..." Rome fought a nervous laughter for the right words to say. "As IF! What gave you THAT idea?"

"Well, the uhh..." He said motioning to the building they were standing in front of, which had Greek columns supporting the perimeter.

"What about it?"

"There has to be some reason why you copy her."

"I have no idea what you're talking about" Rome said, turning away to hide his reddened face.

"Come ON Rome, it's pretty obvious."

"So? I like the columns...Greece has great architecture"

"She sure does." Byzantine said with a smile. Rome was pretty sure he wasn't thinking about buildings. He shook his head and continued walking.

"When are you gonna tell her?"

"I'm not telling her anything!" Rome tried to say convincingly, despite how flustered he was getting.

"Oh I see, this is one of those 'pride' things, isn't it?" Byzantine said sarcastically.

"No, it's one of those 'drop it and leave it alone' things!"

"Ok! Ok! Man, you're defensive lately."

Rome sighed, he didn't mean to yell at him, but he really needed to change the subject.

"Sorry, a lot has been going on lately; I guess I'm just stressed out."

"Like what?"

"Well..." Rome tried to decide where to begin "apparently there's a new group out there, some religious cult or something, and it's weird, usually I don't care what people believe, but these guys? I don't know, I don't have a good feeling about them."

"A religious cult? Those are dime-a-dozen, what does this one call itself?"

"Christianity."

"Christianity? Never heard of it..."

"Well I'm trying to be tolerant and everything, but there is such a thing as 'too' different"

"Hey, don't worry about it too much, I doubt it'll last."

"Yeah, you're probably right..." Rome said with a smile. Byzantine could be a real jerk sometimes, but he always knew what to say to make him feel better.

The two continued to walk and talk and laugh like they always did. Soon it was time for them to go there separate ways. But not before Byzantine got one last dig in.

"Well Rome, if you're gonna tell her how you feel, you'd better do it soon, or someone else will..." He said with a wink. "I'll see ya later"

"Uh, yeah, see ya."

Rome waived goodbye, and the second Byzantine had passed over the horizon, he sprinted back to his house, not caring how many people were staring at him. He had to write Greece a letter, or something, telling her how he felt about her.

Only problem was, he had no idea what to write.

* * *

Ok, a couple things:

This is before Byzantium's name was changed to Constantinople (it happens, but not yet).

I'm not trying to say anything bad about Christianity, that was just apparently the view back then because the idea of worshiping on god and a view of spiritual equality challenged the Roman State Religion (polytheistic with a class system).

Rome did copy Greece, quite a bit (along with others).


	2. Chapter 2

(A/N: Sorry it's a bit short.)

* * *

That night, Rome walked through the moonlit expanses of his courtyard, trying to think of the right words to write to Greece. But everything he had thought of so far was either incredibly corny, or directly from her literary works. Maybe Byzantine was right; maybe he did copy her a little too much.

_Come on, I've written a few stories before, how hard can this be? _He thought to himself

At first he thought he'd try to picture her in his mind and then describe her, that was a good way to start out, wasn't it? The first thing that came to mind was her hair. Those beautiful brown ringlets, how they cascaded down her back when it wasn't done up, and how angelic it looked when it blew in the wind.

_All right, good start...what else?_

Her eyes, he thought next, so wise and mysterious. Like they could see a thousand miles into some one's mind.

Rome was proud of himself, he was on a roll! What else could he think of?

It wasn't long before his mind started drifting towards her…"architecture". Rome's face went red. There was no way he could include that. Could he? No, he was better off if he didn't.

**_Meanwhile_**

"Oh you're back!"

"Hey Turkey." Byzantine smiled as he ruffled his protégé's hair.

"Agh, stop it!" Turkey protested, shaking his head vigorously. He wasn't a little kid anymore, he didn't like having his hair messed up.

But Byzantine laughed anyway. Turkey always looked so funny when he tried to act mature.

"So, did anything unusual happen this time?" he wouldn't openly admit it, but he loved hearing about Byzantine's travels, especially if something funny happened.

"Ah, not really..." Byzantine sighed. "Well except…Rome seemed a little on edge when I saw him."

"How come?"

"I don't know." He thought for a moment. "Turkey, you spend a lot of time in the town square don't you?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Have you heard anything about Christianity?"

"Christianity? Hm, that sounds familiar. I've heard that name before, I think. Who is it?"

"It's not a person; it's a religion, a new one."

"Another one?"

"That's what it sounds like; Rome was getting pretty preoccupied with it."

"Is he following it?"

"I doubt it. He was saying a lot of things about it being 'too different'."

"That doesn't really sound like him, he seemed open minded when I saw him."

"That's what I was thinking. But knowing Rome, that's probably one of the many things on his mind…"

(To be continued)

* * *

(My guess is that Turkey is a pre-teen at this point, considering how long ago this was)


	3. Chapter 3

I should have updated this sooner. I'm sorry! ~ Elles Green

* * *

_Poor Greece went into a deep depression after her mother Mycenae died. Feeling like she had nothing left to lose, like many of her people, she left the mainland and sailed across the Aegean Sea. Sometimes stopping on various islands, sometimes just sailing past them. _

_Eventually she stopped on the shores somewhere in Asia Minor. There she met a young boy._

_There she was, standing on the beach overlooking the waves, the sea breeze running it's fingers through her long hair. She closed her eyes and listened, to the crashing waves, the gulls crying overhead, the sound of small footsteps…wait a minute…_

_She turned around to see a small figure duck behind a rock. Looking behind it she saw a young boy, looking back at her with a mixture of curiosity and fear._

_She knelt down so she could see him eye to eye._

"_What are you doing out here all by yourself?"_

_The boy shrugged and looked down, as if he was ashamed of being found._

"_I'm sure someone is worried about you."_

_The boy continued to look down, crossing his arms against his chest against the wind. He really was cute, dark hair, dark eyes, those little cheeks._

_Greece felt sorry for the boy; he looked so lost and miserable. And on the verge of tears._

"_Hey," she said gently, ruffling the boy's hair. "You have a name don't you?"_

_He shook his head and tried in vain to blink back tears. After all, boys didn't cry, especially in front of pretty girls._

"_Oh, come here you."_

_Greece put an arm around the boy. He timidly leaned into the touch, and let his head rest on her shoulder. "Well if you don't have a name…why don't I give you one?"_

_He sniffed and looked up at her, was she being serious? _

_She smoothed some of his hair out of his face, getting a good look at it. "How about…Ionia."_

_He blinked, and then nodded and smiled. "Mm-hm."_

_Greece laughed and ruffled his hair again._

* * *

Greece smiled at the memory. She wondered where that little boy was now. Well, he probably wasn't a little boy anymore.

Little did she know that somewhere in a crowded town square, there was a boy named Turkey, also smiling at that memory. When no one was looking, that is.

She looked over on her chair where the scroll from Rome sat. It had arrived yesterday but she had yet to read it. She might as well.

Greece sighed. "Rome, why do you always write sideways?" she muttered to herself, unrolling the scroll. He had never been good at writing on them, said he always ran out of space before he could get to the good part.

_My Dear Hellen_… It began.

Strange, he didn't often use her first name. This should be interesting.


	4. Chapter 4

_Wow, 12 whole favorites on this? That's a lot! (for me...)_

* * *

Greece hurried up the steps of Rome's house. This was just too weird.

"Rome? Are you in there?"

Rome came out to meet her, he looked worried. "Greece? Good, you're here!"

He took her hand and pulled her inside. "There isn't much time."

"Hey!"

"Come on, he could be anywhere!" The two continued into the main hall.

"Who are you talking about?"

He then blushed when he realized he was still holding her hand. Hastily he let it go and turned away.

"Romulus," she said softly. "You're never that formal when you write to me. What's going on?"

Rome sighed; he was going to have to humble himself. "...Carthage."

"Carthage...oh, boy..."

"I…I need your help."

Normally she would poke fun at him, at the "great and proud Rome" swallowing his pride. But this was different.

"He says he'll be here soon for us to "discuss things", whatever that means." He crossed his arms self-consciously. "And I think it'd be a bad idea to have Sicilia here when he's around. Especially after last time."

She hadn't forgotten. Rome had rescued the boy from Carthage, claiming that a man who hurts his own family wasn't worthy of having a family at all. On the other side of the argument, Carthage insisted that Rome had kidnapped his nephew away from him, and how he disciplined the boy was his own business.

"So...do you think it would be possible for him to stay with you? For a few days until this whole thing blows over?"

Greece was moved by his wish to keep the boy out of harm's way, but wasn't overly thrilled at the thought of being a secret babysitter for the rest of the week. Oh well, Rome was just too cute when he was humble. "Where is he?"

"Probably still out in the garden."

* * *

They found the boy out where the grapes grew, pulling strings of dead vines off the plants carefully and meticulously. His dark eyes fixed on the leaves and flowers, and he tended to them as gently as a mother hen would to her eggs.

"He sure likes those grapes." Rome mumbled as he and Greece approached. "Olives too, you should see the little guy go."

"He certainly doesn't look so little anymore."

The last time Greece had seen the boy he had been so small, now he looked to be around the same age as that boy that hung around Byzantium. What was his name?

"Sicily!" Rome called to him.

Sicily jumped in surprise, but then looked over with a smile. "Oh, Master Rome! I didn't see you."

Greece smiled back; she could see that Sicily was one of those boys that could easily be mistaken for a girl if one looked at him a certain way.

"Sicily, you remember Greece, don't you?"

The boy looked at her with a look of mild confusion. "I…um…"

She laughed. "It's alright. You were so small the last time I saw you. Now look at you!"

Sicily looked down bashfully, his deep bronze face gaining a reddish glow.

Rome cleared his throat. "Anyway, you'll be staying with her for a few days."

Sicily was happy at the thought of staying with such a pretty lady, but then a thought stopped him. He turned to Rome with a worried look. "Did I do something wrong?"

Of course he hadn't, but Rome wasn't sure he wanted to tell him the real reason why he was being sent away. Thankfully Greece spoke for him. "No sweetheart, you didn't do anything wrong. It's just that…I think I need some help from someone like you."

"Someone like me?"

She nodded. "Rome tells me you're good with plants. Just look at these grapes!"

Sicily felt proud that his work was being admired. "But if I go, then what about-"

Rome cut in. "They look fine Sicily, a few days of being on their own shouldn't hurt them."

He looked back over at Greece. "Do you have grapes where you live?"

"We have some. But mostly we have olives; you like those too?"

"Yeah!" he replied excitedly.

"Alright, get your things."

They watched the boy happily bound up the stairs to get the few things he had been able to take with him. It was great to see him with such a sense of purpose.

"Well that went better than expected." Rome said finally. "Wish Carthage was more like him."

Greece sighed. "He does have every right to be mad though, I honestly think Sicily was all he had."

"You think?

"Yeah."

He wished he could just stay here, in the garden with Greece and Sicily and never have to leave. Never have to worry about this growing empire or arguing with Byzantine. Never having to worry about Carthage or fighting, and instead living in peace. But what kind of life would that be?

He watched the two of them leave, Sicily happily talking about something while Greece listened patiently. It was a heartwarming sight; she was always good with children. Seeing the two together like that pulled at something in Rome's chest. Maybe one day he would see her with a different child. Maybe one day that child would be his.

Rome shook his head, how could he think that now? He wasn't even brave enough to tell her how he really felt about her. Ironic really, the "great and proud Rome" reduced to practically a shy little boy around the one he loved.

All that was left was to wait for Carthage. He sighed and rubbed his eye with the heel of his hand. He was not looking forward to this.

* * *

(I loosely based Sicily's appearance off of Dionysus, the Greek god of wine, who was said to have an androgynous look.)


End file.
